Rumors Subside On Hart Race

August 22, 1987|By Jon Margolis, Chicago Tribune.

Gary Hart has not cut short his Irish vacation as reported, according to one of his close associates, who insisted Friday that Hart has no plans to re- enter the Democratic presidential race he abandoned in May.

As rumors, speculation, assertions and denials saturated the political world, Bill Shore, the onetime campaign aide who remains close to Hart, said the former Democratic front-runner merely transferred from one Irish vacation cottage to another.

``He just left because he was getting so many phone calls,`` Shore said in a telephone interview from Denver. ``He`s at another place in Ireland.``

Shore said Hart would return, as originally scheduled, next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in Madison, Wis., Hart`s onetime campaign manager, who started the latest speculation Thursday by calling Hart`s return to the race

In a telephone interview from his Madison home, Bill Dixon insisted, though, that Hart had been ``considering getting back in`` the race he abandoned May 8 after the disclosure of his relationship with Donna Rice, a 29-year-old part-time model from Miami.

Dixon said he had spoken to Hart 10 days before Dixon`s Thursday radio interview in which he said he thought Hart would return to the contest.

In their telephone conversation, Dixon said, Hart ``did not say anything directly`` about running for president, and the former campaign manager said he would not characterize the private conversation.

Dixon did say that he was unhappy about Washington speculation that he had made his remarks with the ``ulterior motive`` of seeking to scuttle any plans Hart had to re-enter the race.

``That`s nonsense,`` Dixon said. ``I`m a simple person.``

Dixon did not deny that he had been upset with Hart when the Donna Rice incident first broke. Since then, though, he said, he and Hart have spoken on the phone frequently and seen each other a few times. ``I think he`s a good guy,`` Dixon said.

He acknowledged that Shore talks to Hart much more frequently. And Shore, who spoke with Hart Tuesday night, insisted that the former Colorado senator was not going to become a candidate again.

Most Democrats did not take seriously the speculation about Hart`s return to the race, and few thought that he would do very well if he did run. The personal scandal ``will never go away,`` said one Democratic political strategist, who did not want to be identified. ``It`s crazy to think he could go anywhere.``

One thing a revived candidacy might accomplish, though, would be to make Hart eligible for federal matching funds, which could help him pay his campaign debts.

Before he quit the race, Hart had already qualified for matching funds, which his campaign could collect in January, but only if he is a genuine candidate at the time.